Visually-impaired skier Jade Etherington, with guide Jade Powell, wins silver
to claim Great Britain's first Paralympic medal on the slopes in 20 years

Jade Etherington might have been shocked at making history with her silver medal success in the opening event in Sochi, but not the staff overseeing the trainee secondary geography teacher’s progress.

Etherington, who was born with glaucoma and the genetic eye condition Axenfeld syndrome and has less than five per cent vision, claimed silver with her guide Caroline Powell in the women’s visually impaired downhill event, Great Britain’s first medal in alpine skiing since 1994.

“I can’t believe what’s just happened,” Etherington said. “We knew it was a solid run because we were shouting 'go, go, go’ and we had good, solid communication. I’m so proud and excited and I can’t wait to get that medal in my hands.”

Penny Briscoe, the GB chef de mission, said the success had “laid a foundation” for the rest of the team. There are seven competing skiers, three of whom are visually impaired and have sighted guides, and five wheelchair curlers in the squad. The silver medal puts ParalympicsGB half-way to the target of at least two medals set by UK Sport, which invested just over £750,000 into British winter sport athletes who are competing at the Paralympic Games in Para-alpine skiing and wheelchair curling.

Etherington and Powell communicate through small microphones in their headsets connected by Bluetooth.

The pair have been working together for six months, and have built up a great understanding with the guide skiing on average 40 feet ahead of the registered athlete. Powell said: “We’re happy we stuck to our plan today. We knew that being excited rather than nervous usually means we will have a good run.

“I’m so proud of Jade and what she’s done. At the top of the hill we went away from the rest of the group and had a chat, and we said to each other 'we can do this’. We’ve done it!”

Fellow ParalympicsGB athletes Kelly Gallagher and guide Charlotte Evans finished in a time of 1:37.36, placing them in sixth. “We’re so delighted for our team-mate, Jade,” Gallagher said. “It’s so exciting that we are getting to showcase our sport in front of so many people and hopefully it will get more people interested in adaptive skiing.”

Gallagher won four medals – two silver and two bronze – at the IPC World Championships in 2013, and is expected to excel as the competition opens up.

In the women’s sitting competition, Anna Turney was the fifth athlete on the starting list and had a fast run before crashing out on the challenging course.

In a busy first morning for ParalympicsGB, the Ice Cube Curling Centre in the Coastal Cluster saw the first sporting action of the day as the GB team took on reigning world champions Canada.

Making her second Games appearance and as the only female skip in competition, Aileen Neilson led her team of Gregor Ewan, Bob McPherson, Jim Gault and Angie Malone out on to the ice against Canada.

The Canadian team have proved dominant in the sport, claiming every gold medal since wheelchair curling was introduced to the Paralympic programme in 2006. In a highly tactical, closely fought match, GB lost the last four ends and the match 6-3.